docs: def _find_conferences(self, year):
          """
          Retrieve the conferences and teams for the requested season.
  
          Find and retrieve all conferences for a given season and parse all of
          the teams that participated in the conference during that year.
          Conference information includes abbreviation and full name for the
          conference as well as the abbreviation and full name for each team in
          the conference.
  
          Parameters
          ----------
          year : string
              A string of the requested year to pull conferences from.
          """
          if not year:
              year = utils._find_year_for_season('ncaaf')
          page = self._pull_conference_page(year)
          if not page:
              output = ("Can't pull requested conference page. Ensure the "
                        "following URL exists: %s" % (CONFERENCES_URL % year))
              raise ValueError(output)
          conferences = page('table#conferences tbody tr').items()
          for conference in conferences:
              conference_abbreviation = self._get_conference_id(conference)
              conference_name = conference('td[data-stat="conf_name"]').text()
              teams_dict = Conference(conference_abbreviation, year).teams
              conference_dict = {
                      'name': conference_name,
                      'teams': teams_dict
                  }
              for team in teams_dict.keys():
                  self._team_conference[team] = conference_abbreviation
              self._conferences[conference_abbreviation] = conference_dict